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Story and photos by Chris Overacker
Edited by Mark Smith
Page 3
The End
The front bumper was custom fabbed from two inch O.D. and one inch O.D. tubing. It
protects a Chevy truck big-block, cross-flow radiator that holds four gallons of coolant. A
B&M transmission oil cooler keep the trans under 190*.
Custom Alcan leaf springs and poly bushings are dampened by three soft-valve shocks per wheel (Hey, that’s the way it was done back then, OK!)
Custom Alcan leaf springs and poly bushings are dampened by three soft-valve shocks per wheel (Hey, that’s the way it was done back then, OK!)
A 40 gallon fuel
cell was installed
between the rear
frame rails. I
chose ½” thick
plastic for the
bed floor and
covered it with a
bed mat. Wheels
are Superior
Magnus 15X8,
and tires were BF
Goodrich
35x12.50R-15’s.
There are so many other custom unique one-off features that it would take several
pages to cover them all. The truck took up the better part of a year to overhaul, and
that was only possible due to the generous help from several good friends and lots of
late nights, pizza and beer!
The Big Bummer:
After being completed and driving it around for only two weeks and less the 400 miles on the odometer, and on its first “off-road” adventure, I was hot-footing it around and rolled it off a cliff! Eric (my fiberglass guy and painter) was riding shotgun so at least I didn’t have to explain what happened to him! With some help from several good friends we lifted the truck back on the road with a boom/winch truck.
After being completed and driving it around for only two weeks and less the 400 miles on the odometer, and on its first “off-road” adventure, I was hot-footing it around and rolled it off a cliff! Eric (my fiberglass guy and painter) was riding shotgun so at least I didn’t have to explain what happened to him! With some help from several good friends we lifted the truck back on the road with a boom/winch truck.
Back at the shop the damage was determined to be bad enough that a new passenger
side cab corner and door was needed, along with a new hood, right front fender, grill,
underhood tube work and some work to both rear fiberglass fenders. The bed also
had to have a new tail section built. Over a year passed before the parts were
rounded up (except we opted to just use a stock steel hood), and the rebuild once
again started. Several thousand dollars and a few more months it was completed
again.
After the second rebuild, the J-10 was featured in two Magazines. September 1995, Off-Road,
titled “Jumpin’ J-10, and November 1996, Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road, titled “Battle ready
Gladiator”. I took it on several wheelin’ trips and enjoyed it for a year or so. Then it was time to
let it go to move onto other things (like a house!), so I marketed it for sale in southern California
and sold it to a fellow who was visiting the states, but lived in Italy! Yep, the Battle-ready,
Jumpin’ J-10 now resides abroad. I have not heard of its fate since the late1990’s.
Since it’s been 17+ years, I’ve got the bug to once again build another J-10, this one a
bit milder, and hopefully a bit easier on the wallet !
So, stay tuned for my next J-10 project!